CapRover vs Cloudways
A detailed comparison to help you choose between CapRover and Cloudways.
Quick Verdict
4.0/5
CapRover
0 reviews
3.9/5
Cloudways
0 reviews
CapRover is rated higher (4.0 vs 3.9). CapRover is a free, open source PaaS that runs on your own server. Deploy apps via CLI, dashboard, or GitHub Actions. One-click app templates for WordPress, Ghost, Mattermost, Nextcloud, and 100+ more. Managed hosting layer that sits on top of DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, Vultr, or Linode. You get managed control with one-click staging, Breeze caching, and 24/7 support.
CapRover Self-hosted app deployment — free open source PaaS | Cloudways Managed cloud hosting on your choice of provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Rating | 4.0 (0 reviews)✓ | 3.9 (0 reviews) |
| Pricing model | free | paid |
| Starting price | Free✓ | From $11/mo |
| Best for | Developers and small teams wanting a free, self-hosted Heroku-style PaaS with one-click apps on their own VPS | Agencies, freelancers and SMBs running WordPress/WooCommerce/Magento/Laravel who want managed cloud hosting with provider choice and no ops staff |
| Specifications (entry plan) | ||
| CPU cores | — | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | — | 1 GB |
| Storage | — | 25 GB |
| Bandwidth | — | 1 TB/mo |
| SLA uptime | — | 99.99% |
| Data-center count | — | — |
| €/vCPU/mo | — | €11.00 |
| €/GB RAM/mo | — | €11.00 |
| Features | ||
| IPv6 | ||
| DDoS protection | ✓ | |
| Automated backups | ✓ | |
| Snapshots | ||
| Managed option | ||
| Bare metal | ||
| GPU available | ||
| S3-compatible | ||
| Hourly billing | ✓ | |
| Free tier | ✓ | |
| Data-center locations | ||
| Regions | — | United StatesUnited KingdomGermanyNetherlandsSingaporeAustralia+1 |
| Tags | ||
| Tags | free tieropen sourceself hostable | managed optionddos protectionbackups includedeu datacenterus datacenterapac datacenter |
| Visit CapRover → | Visit Cloudways → | |
CapRover
Pros
- + Free forever, Apache 2.0, no feature gating or license keys
- + One-click app catalog (WordPress, MySQL, MongoDB, and more) deploys in minutes
- + Automatic Let's Encrypt HTTPS with one-click redirects
- + Deploys from dashboard, CLI, webhook, or Git; runs on any VPS you choose
- + Docker-native: any language or service that runs in a container
Cons
- - Largely solo-maintained — feature development has slowed and the bus factor is low
- - You own server ops: patching, backups, monitoring, and build sizing
- - Rougher edges and docs than commercial PaaS; support is community-only with no SLA
- - No autoscaling, managed backups, or Kubernetes-grade orchestration
Cloudways
Pros
- + Choose the underlying cloud (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, GCP) and region per server
- + Entry pricing from $11/month on DigitalOcean with hourly billing and no contract
- + Managed stack with free migration, staging/cloning, automated backups, caching and 24/7 human support
- + Unlimited sites and visits per server on Flexible plans
- + Autonomous line adds real autoscaling, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN and a no-credit-card 3-day trial
Cons
- - Management markup of roughly $5-$35/month over buying the same server direct
- - No formal uptime SLA on the Flexible line
- - AWS/GCP plans include only 1-2 GB transfer; overage at $0.12/GB (AWS) adds up fast
- - Root-level control is limited — no custom kernels, bare metal, GPUs or own object storage
- - Owned by DigitalOcean since 2022 while reselling competing clouds — a roadmap consideration
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